Millions of airline passengers paid inflated ticket charges after British Airways and Virgin Atlantic secretly rigged prices, a court has heard.
The rival carriers allegedly conspired to fix passenger fuel surcharges to rake in hundreds of millions of pounds in a desperate bid to cover soaring oil prices.
Senior executives at the two airlines were said to have hammered out the deals during secret telephone calls, telling each other, ‘This is a conversation we aren’t going to have.’
The controversial surcharges proved lucrative for both carriers. BA took £64 million in the first year and its forecasts showed it hoped to make £201 million as it increased the charges.
The alleged cartel ran for almost two years, between July 2004 and April 2006, and affected millions of long-haul passengers.
The alleged cartel came unstuck in March 2006 when Virgin turned whistle-blower in exchange for immunity from prosecution, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.
BA’s head of sales Andrew Crawley, ex-commercial director Martin George, ex-communications head Iain Burns and ex-UK and Ireland sales chief Alan Burnett all deny the charges.
Virgin executives are immune from prosecution as they blew the whistle on the price-fixing agreement.
The trial is expected to last for a number of months.
